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Man guilty of supplying Duggan gun

A drug dealer has been convicted of supplying a gun to Mark Duggan, whose fatal shooting by police just minutes later sparked the 2011 summer riots.

Kevin Hutchinson-Foster was found guilty at the Old Bailey of giving Mr Duggan the gun just 15 minutes before he was shot dead on August 4, 2011. The 29-year-old's death in Ferry Lane, Tottenham, north London, sparked riots that swept across London and other English towns and cities.

Hutchinson-Foster, 30, who is already in prison for drugs offences and was on licence at the time he gave Mr Duggan the gun, had already pleaded guilty to using the same gun to threaten people in a barber's shop just six days before, as well as using it to "pistol whip" a barber.

He is seen on CCTV threatening Peter Osadebay, then returning and beating him with the gun until he nearly lost consciousness.

Hutchinson-Foster had pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He denied selling or transferring a prohibited firearm to Mr Duggan between July 28 and August 5, 2011, and a jury failed to reach a verdict in an original trial, prompting a retrial at the Old Bailey which led to his conviction. He will be sentenced for all three charges on February 26.

The court heard that Mr Duggan, who was under police surveillance that day and the day before, had gone in the minicab to Leyton, east London, where he collected the the BBM Bruni Model 92 handgun in a shoebox from Hutchinson-Foster, before continuing to Tottenham.

The cab was pulled over by armed police in four unmarked cars in a "hard stop", and as Mr Duggan got out clutching the gun, he was shot by CO19 officers.

After the verdict, chief superintendent Dean Haydon, from Scotland Yard's trident gang crime command said: "There is an ongoing IPCC investigation into the death of Mark Duggan and the circumstances of his death will be a matter for the coroner at a later date."

He said there had been a 20% reduction in gun crime over the past four years, adding: "The Kevin Hutchinson-Foster trial has primarily been about the supply of an illegal firearm and I welcome the verdict of the jury in this case today."

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